MR Corvette C8 - General Discussion

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If this ended up being a high performance Cadillac, that'd be drool worthy. :drool:
Dan
Imagine a refined Cien. :mischievous:
A good excuse to revive the XLR name, I'd say.

I know everyone frowns on hear-say. Especially on this site. So take this with a grain of salt if you want. I'm not one who would try and bull:censored: something like this.

At work today just before my shift ended I did an oil change on what turned out to be a GM employees car who works at the Tonawanda engine plant in Buffalo. In discussion it turns out her father in law, husband and herself have worked that for many years, her, 17, her husband 19. In conversation, this is what came up.

This plant specifically built truck motors, Cadillac engines and engines dedicated to the Corvette. In her words, she said to me, that the plant was to be getting a new engine line, and they are retooling the plant now, and positions will be opening for hire. She went into details with that on me, then we gor back into what kind of new engine this would be. She said specifically that it would be a turbo engine similar to to how they turboed the Cruze, made for Cadillacs (specifically the CTS-V) and the Corvette, and that it was a V8, and that it should appear sometime soon. Couldn't et anymore out of her. I questioned where this information was sourced, and she specifically said "directly from GM". This lady was in her late 40s and very nice, and I would highly doubt she would lie, especially after disclosing details and a job offer.

I asked about the possibility of a mid engined Corvette to which she replied "I don't really know much about that" but facial expressions seemed to tell another story.

So take it how it is. How I heard it directly from a GM employee today. I have no reason to BS this so its up to you weather or not you believe it.

Interesting stuff. Speaking of Cadillacs and turbo V8s, wasn't the CT6 supposed to get one too?
 
I know everyone frowns on hear-say. Especially on this site. So take this with a grain of salt if you want. I'm not one who would try and bull:censored: something like this.

At work today just before my shift ended I did an oil change on what turned out to be a GM employees car who works at the Tonawanda engine plant in Buffalo. In discussion it turns out her father in law, husband and herself have worked that for many years, her, 17, her husband 19. In conversation, this is what came up.

This plant specifically built truck motors, Cadillac engines and engines dedicated to the Corvette. In her words, she said to me, that the plant was to be getting a new engine line, and they are retooling the plant now, and positions will be opening for hire. She went into details with that on me, then we gor back into what kind of new engine this would be. She said specifically that it would be a turbo engine similar to to how they turboed the Cruze, made for Cadillacs (specifically the CTS-V) and the Corvette, and that it was a V8, and that it should appear sometime soon. Couldn't et anymore out of her. I questioned where this information was sourced, and she specifically said "directly from GM". This lady was in her late 40s and very nice, and I would highly doubt she would lie, especially after disclosing details and a job offer.

I asked about the possibility of a mid engined Corvette to which she replied "I don't really know much about that" but facial expressions seemed to tell another story.

So take it how it is. How I heard it directly from a GM employee today. I have no reason to BS this so its up to you weather or not you believe it.

Clearly a lie cause no one would ever tell you about GM job hiring when you're a Ford man, case solved. I did it boys :sly:
 
A turbo V8 isn't out of the question if that's where the market is going. It would very likely help them solve some of the problems they've had with the LT4, and if it is a downsized turbo V8, it might help them sneak in under some regs in Europe and elsewhere with a premium option.

Still, I don't think GM would ever step fully away from a naturally aspirated small-block. Not yet.
 
A turbo V8 isn't out of the question if that's where the market is going. It would very likely help them solve some of the problems they've had with the LT4, and if it is a downsized turbo V8, it might help them sneak in under some regs in Europe and elsewhere with a premium option.

Still, I don't think GM would ever step fully away from a naturally aspirated small-block. Not yet.

It's sad that racing seems to be the reason for this if in fact a small over head cam 4l v8 tt comes out as a result. I still don't see why being mid engine is necessary for all this.
 
It's sad that racing seems to be the reason for this if in fact a small over head cam 4l v8 tt comes out as a result. I still don't see why being mid engine is necessary for all this.

Unless it is a Cadillac wearing a Corvette skin over an MR chassis, which would make a hell of a lot more sense. If the rumors are true that Cadillac is taking over the LMP mantle from the Corvette DPs, and if Cadillac wants to tie their potential racing success to an actual car, a turbo DOHC V8 would make a hell of a lot of sense. Probably matched to that new 10-speed gearbox.

Here's what I'd wonder, though... Would GM really bother to go through all of the R&D on a bespoke chassis for a low-volume Cadillac? Or would they engineer the C8's platform to be configurable to different layouts?
 
Unless it is a Cadillac wearing a Corvette skin over an MR chassis, which would make a hell of a lot more sense. If the rumors are true that Cadillac is taking over the LMP mantle from the Corvette DPs, and if Cadillac wants to tie their potential racing success to an actual car, a turbo DOHC V8 would make a hell of a lot of sense. Probably matched to that new 10-speed gearbox.

Here's what I'd wonder, though... Would GM really bother to go through all of the R&D on a bespoke chassis for a low-volume Cadillac? Or would they engineer the C8's platform to be configurable to different layouts?

It could, I agree this is a possibility. However, if GM feel that the prospect of GTE is going to stay being dominated by tt engines then the only solutions are to stick with NA and hope for a break through, leave, or build a tt engine. Also the XLR shared a chassis with two generations of Corvette, so if they're going to do a new supercar I don't see why both can't exist.
 
katech-2018-corvette-zr1-zora-lt5-website-placeholder_100558931_l.jpg


http://www.motorauthority.com/news/...chevrolet-corvette-might-have-just-been-outed

Quick refresher: Katech used to work on the engines for Corvette Racing before GM brought that venture in-house. So, you might say Katech has a history with the Corvette and knows a thing or two about what's going on with it.

GM Inside News noticed that Katech's website suddenly has a landing page for the 2018+ Corvette ZR1/Zora LT5. Naturally, the question is: What does Katech know that we don't?




Here's the page in question:
http://katechengines.com/performance/vehicles/c8-corvette-zr1zora/
 
I'm though speculation suggests they would treat it like an additional trim level? So if it came out it would more likely be 2019 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Zora?
 
Still betting money on a Daytona Prototype tribute trim.
That would be cool. I'd love to see a variant (perhaps a track oriented one) with a body kit that looks like the Corvette DP.


Wow. This is something.

Also, "LT5" and they've apparently trademarked "ZR1" again. Just pointing that out. I wonder if the mid engine Corvette is meant to compete against the Ford GT.
 
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I don't like that picture at all, the one with the orange corvette front. I know it's a concept, but I hope they don't borrow too much from the C7.
 
I don't understand why they would do this to the Corvette.

It's has been a sales monster in the FR configuration for so long. Why possibly ruin that by making it a, most likely, more expensive MR setup?

Keep the Corvette FR, build a twice as expensive exotic competitor MR with a different name tag.
 
Keep the Corvette FR, build a twice as expensive exotic competitor MR with a different name tag.

Even better, give it to Cadillac. They haven't built an interesting car in a few years now.
 
I don't understand why they would do this to the Corvette.

It's has been a sales monster in the FR configuration for so long. Why possibly ruin that by making it a, most likely, more expensive MR setup?

Keep the Corvette FR, build a twice as expensive exotic competitor MR with a different name tag.


The rumor is a mid engined Corvette placed above the regular FR Corvette in the lineup
 
I don't understand why they would do this to the Corvette.

It's has been a sales monster in the FR configuration for so long. Why possibly ruin that by making it a, most likely, more expensive MR setup?

Keep the Corvette FR, build a twice as expensive exotic competitor MR with a different name tag.
That's what they should've done, unfortunately they aren't it seems. :(
 
Two things worth noting direct from Cadillac's President.

On the XLR.
I think in the fullness of time, we will get around to developing a high-performance, very-emotive sports car as a halo for the Cadillac brand. But we have so many projects to occupy us through 2020 that this will have to wait a little while.

EDIT: He also talked about Cadillac Racing expanding (look at his brand history) but that answer has since been deleted.
 
I don't understand why they would do this to the Corvette.

It's has been a sales monster in the FR configuration for so long. Why possibly ruin that by making it a, most likely, more expensive MR setup?

Keep the Corvette FR, build a twice as expensive exotic competitor MR with a different name tag.

...because they have a brand and that brand sells by track numbers. They want a few tenths off on laptimes so that they can claim equivalent performance against some other benchmark. They may also have seen engineering reasons for it for weight/cost reduction.
 
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